Angel Beats: Just Another Story
by SaitoYui
Summary: To befriend someone is a very warm feeling, but it's a very painful experience to part with them. An angel in a place far far away is the inheritor to both this tender warmth, and this bitter pain. This is just another story of the countless painful partings that this angel has endured. A fanfiction prequel to Angel Beats. Except Angel, composed entirely of OCs.
1. What Happened With My Life?

_ In a place far, far away, there is a really really kind angel who befriends people. But her light is so strong that anyone who she befriends is obliterated in a wave of light. The angel, all alone, walks aimlessly across the heavens. All she wants is a friend, but she knows that anyone who tries to be her friend will cease to exist. That poor, poor angel. Will anyone do anything about her? Can anyone do something to help her?_

"Hmm. I can't get that damn fairy tale out of my head!" said Shijo Tabane.

"Dude, calm down. It's just a fairy tale." said his friend.

Shijo himself knew this, but there was something about this fairy tale the little girl told him. It wasn't familiar or anything of the sort, but he just couldn't get this particular fairy tale out of his head.

Shijo was a struggling instructor of a Kendo Dojo. No ambition, no college education, not even a high school diploma. All he was content to do was teach others how to use swords. In reality, even didn't consider himself mature enough to lift the weight of a weapon that could take lives.

His friend, Yuuki, looked at Shijo, who was thinking with his head staring down into the snow. "...Dude. You're still gonna angst about your coma?"

Shijo put a bit of iron in his voice. "Cut me some slack man," he said. "I just woke up, like last year. Do you have any idea how it feels to have your high school life just violently cut off like that?"

"Sorry, man," Yuuki said. "Not to be mean, or anything, but I gotta say, you're lucky you have expertise in Kendo."

"Yeah, well that's about all I have now." Shijo stopped and looked at Yuuki. "I had friends, good grades, and a really awesome girlfriend who... made me feel so alive. One car accident, one coma, seven years, and now that's all been reduced to shit. And the worst part? I wasn't even conscious to see it all taken from me!"

"D-dude," Yuuki continued. "I wasn't the one who got you in that accident, don't talk like I was the one who did it."

"Yeah, but _you_ took my girl and _married_ her while I was busy _losing my youth_," Shijo replied.

After a quick awkward silence, Yuuki put his head down a bit.

"Sorry, but... but it's a little hard not to be put down by that. Don't mind me." Shijo said.

After some silent walking, Yuuki began talking again. "Well, bro, we all lose things in this world, no matter how dear they are. We can only move on with happy memories in our heart."

"Easy for you to say," Shijo said.

"Just words of wisdom. I can't really help you in that department," Yuuki replied. "I don't think anyone can but you."

Shijo returned to his apartment and sat down in his living room. A sofa, four wooden swords, two sheathed katanas, a TV, a desk, and two years worth of high school yearbooks were among the things that populated the barren room. Shijo turned on the TV, and blankly stared at MTV. He loved this channel in high school. Nowadays, it's hard to tell what crap floods the airwaves. He slowly felt sleep subverting his eyes, but was too tired to turn off the TV; he lost the remote.

In his final moments of consciousness, he heard the TV audio.

"We're doing Justin Bieber, Twilight, Rebecca Black and the Kardashians on MTV all night long! Stick around after these commercials! This is gonna be fun fun fun fun fun..."


	2. Isn't This A Change?

Shijo woke up in a neatly-kept room. The walls were a cheerful yellow - a very steep contrast from his apartment's sickly-green decor. On the wall, a rack with 3 wooden and 2 metal katanas. There was a computer running Windows 7 on the wooden desk, and a cushion in the middle of the room. Where was he? He got up and looked around. One flip of the blinds revealed that it was sunny outside, and his window overlooked... a high school?

He walked over to the door and placed his hand on it. Well, he wasn't being held hostage; the door isn't locked. Shijo grabbed a metal katana off the wall, unsheathed it, and slowly opened the door. It was a dormitory hallway.

Well, if someone is treating him like a guest, he might as well behave like one. He opened his closet door and picked one of the neatly-ironed black uniforms.

Shijo yawned, walking in the sun-soaked grounds. He still didn't know where he was, but damn! He felt alive! If this is a school, he must be a student!

Shijo looked into the distance, there's a baseball game going on, soccer, and all sorts of stuff. Many of the people here, however, did not seem to be clad in uniform like he was.

"It's a day off," said a gentle girl voice behind him. "Why are you in uniform? Do you like uniforms?"

Shijo turned around and looked in astonishment at the short white-haired girl in front of him. "Well, why aren't you in one?" He sensed no hostility in her.

"I don't see a reason why I can't wear one." said the girl.

"Heh. You're funny." Shijo said, chuckling. He repostured himself. "Where am I exactly?"

"...I see. You're a newcomer," said the girl. "If you're here, then it means you're dead."

The smile wiped off Shijo's face. "Dead? W-what do you mean? I... died?"

"Do you remember how you died?" asked the girl.

"Umm..." thought Shijo. "Well... the last thing I remember is falling asleep as MTV was playing an all-night special on Justin Bieber, Rebecca Black, the Kardashians, and Twilight."

The girl looked into Shijo's eyes. Her face was emotionless in a kind way, but something in her eyes made Shijo feel like a super-dense idiot.

"So you're saying, I'm in the afterlife now?" Shijo said.

The girl quietly nodded.

"So... the afterlife is a high school?"

The girl quietly nodded.

"Annnd you personally have no doubt that listening to Justin Bieber overnight killed me?"

After an extended delay, the girl quietly nodded.

Shijo... laughed. Well, this may not be perfect, but a world like this seems like heaven to him so far. "I'm Shijo Tabane, Kendo expert," Shijo said. "What's yours?"

"Kanade," replied the girl. "Kanade Tachibana. Student Body President." she gently extended her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," replied Shijo, while grasping the girl's small hand, and shaking it with the firmness of a wild orange.


	3. Who Are You, Angel?

Kanade proved to be a very helpful orientation guide. Under her direction, Shijo got his class schedules, memorized by heart all of the building locations, enrolled in the Kendo club, and even got to know some of Kanade's friends. Shijo, on the other hand, was very grateful. He was given another chance at his youth. He was given his old memories back. And most of all, he was grateful that he had someone he could call a friend in the strange world he found himself in.

Shijo and Kanade walked through the school campus at lunchtime, when a blonde boy in a polo shirt glomped the small girl.

"Kanade! Who's this guy? A new friend of yours?"

Kanade simply giggled. "He's new here." She said.

"Hey. Shijo Tabane." Shijo said to him.

The boy released Kanade and threw his arm around Shijo.

"Yo bro! Chardon Dunois's the name! Spyin's my game! You eatin' lunch with us?"

Shijo looked at Kanade. "Is this guy high or something?"

"Don't mind him," replied Kanade, smiling subtly. "He's a friend of mine."

The trio walked to the entrance hall of the cafeteria, where a girl walked up to them.

"Hey Kanade, Chardon, oh? Are you a newcomer?"

Shijo looked at the glasses-clad girl. "Yup. I'm Shijo Tabane."

The girl leaned forward awfully close to Shijo and observed him head-to-toe. "Hmm..." she thought to herself. "How did you die?"

Shijo explained the details of his agonizing demise as the four of them ate in the cafeteria.

"Twilight," repeated the girl. "truly the worst way to die."

"Wooooh!" shouted Shijo, after chugging down a cup of hot tea. "I'm so excited for the Kendo Club meeting tomorrow!"

"You're funny," said the girl. "Most people who end up here are either depressed at first, or wish they could go back. Your first 12 hours dead and you're already enjoying yourself to the fullest."

"Well," said Shijo, his mouth full of Ramen, "I nefer got to," he swallowed his mouthful, and washed it down with another cup of hot tea before continuing. "enjoy youth like this. I feel more alive than ever now that this place is another chance to give it a go!"

Kanade sit silently beside the girl, as she took another bite of her Mabou Dofu.

As Chardon and the girl went about some conversation about shoe sizes and how they relate to cannibalism and pop music, Shijo stared at the quiet blazer-clad girl from across the table. It was only now that her emotional repression was starting to bug him... or at least, peak his curiosity.

The two girls left to go use the bathroom, leaving Shijo and Chardon alone on the table.

"Hey, bro," said Shijo. "why is Kanade like that? She doesn't seem all that shy to start a conversation, but I don't think it's easy for her to show emotion."

Chardon swallowed his chicken. "Oh, heh. Actually, please don't tell anyone I know this, but that kinda bugged me when I became her friend, too," he said, putting down his chopsticks. "So I snooped around, asking people, and apparently it's because she lost a lot of friends in this world. And I mean it when I say a lot. You'd be surprised what kind of crazy shit that can do to a person over time"

"So you're befriending her... because you're sorry for her?

"Well... not really. More like I respect her and what she's doing. You see, despite what you think, this world isn't heaven. It's more like purgatory."

"What's the difference? I love it here."

"Well... You know how people leave purgatory after some time?"

"Yeeeeeaaah?"

"According to what people've observed, we're all here because something is preventing us from leaving this world and reaching nirvana or some shit like that. Kanade has been here longer than any of us. And during that time, she's been befriending countless people and helping them to fulfill what they couldn't in life. It's painful and thankless work," Chardon wolfed down a cup of rice, and traced his gaze of admiration on Kanade, who was returning from across the cafeteria. "but I respect Kanade because she's up to it. And after all this time, she's still up to it."

Kanade, finished her calm walk back to the two's table after 2 minutes.

"Where's Atsuko?" asked Chardon.

"Something came up for her. Love affair." said Kanade.

Shijo laughed. "Yup. This is the youth I lost alright!"

Lunch soon ended, and the trio left the cafeteria.

Chardon yawned. "Whelp. I guess I'll be heading back to my room. I'm beat" He patted both Shijo and Kanade's shoulders and headed towards the boy's dorm.

Shijo apologized, and told Kanade that he was eager to look around the school by himself.

"I understand," said the girl. "Please enjoy yourself."

Shijo, not seeing anything even remotely wrong with leaving a girl standing there, ran off to explore the place he would call home.

On a trail near the baseball field, he saw a glimmering object on the ground. As he looked at it, it appeared to be the remnants of a disc. Shijo pieced together the fitting pieces of the shattered CD, forming two words.

"Angel Player?" Shijo said to himself. "What is this? Some iTunes ripoff?"


	4. Where'd Everyone Get The Cool Stuff?

Shijo held the fragments of the disc in his hand, squatting over the ground.

"Oh my god! Is that my disc?" said a very sweet voice behind him. "Was it like that already?"

"Y-yeah. Sorry, man." replied Shijo. He turned around and realized that the sweet voice he just heard belonged to that of a _guy_.

"Oh, thank you for finding it," said the boy. "It's better off destroyed than in the wrong hands."

"What was it?" asked Shijo.

The boy looked flustered for a minute. "U-u-umm-umm... It's a very crappy Winamp ripoff! And I-I don't want people to know that it's actually my... umm... favorite music player!"

Shijo knew that it was a crappy excuse by a crappy liar. "If you don't want me to know why that program is confidential to you, it's alright!" he said. "Just take the pieces and pretend this never happened."

"Gee... T-thanks!" said the boy, and he ran off bearing the glittering shards in his hands.

An entire afternoon and evening would pass before Shijo would finally be content scouting out his new home. He proceeded back to the room where he originally thought he was kidnapped. As he walked, he wondered why everyone had their own clothing, but he alone had only uniforms in his closet. And the same goes with the other peoples' belongings. Did they wake up in a dorm and find theirs on the wall too?

He barged into his two-person dorm room, and saw a blonde kid using his computer on the top bunk.

"Yo. My new roommate." said the blonde kid, with a childish smile on his face. "That Kanade is a total cutie, isn't she?"

"C-Ch-Chardon!? You're my roommate?" Shijo asked in astonishment.

The black-haired boy and blonde-haired boy sat across from each other on the table. Chardon had his bulky Alienware connected to two additional monitors, a cup of tea, a WoW custom keyboard, a colorful Gamerpad Controller, and a mouse sporting some 76¼-ish buttons. The French bishonen's eyes remained fixed on the screen, as "Enemy AC-130 above!" played from his massive external speakers. The boy's excessively bulky peripherals took up roughly 87% of the table. The other 13% of the table was bare, save for Shijo's cup. Shijo drank in silence while Chardon played away, and every time Shijo finished a cup, he held his empty teacup towards Chardon, who in turn refilled it for him, all while remaining fixed on his computer screen. This awkward scene of silence continued for 45 minutes.

"Sooo, Chardon," began Shijo. "Where did you get those things?"

A sound of machinegun fire reverberated through the custom speakers, followed by a strong look of contempt from Chardon at his screen. He smiled as he looked at Shijo. "What things?"

"Your gaming devices," said Shijo, "and all your other stuff that didn't come with the tuition."

"Ahh, I see what you mean." Chardon closed his laptop shut and gently brushed it aside. "Hey, wait here."

Chardon left the room, and returned with a cup of... dirt. He moved his peripherals onto the floor, and emptied the cup's contents on the table in a line.

"See this dirt?" he asked. "I want you to look at it and visualize, say, a katana being forged from it. Think of every detail, and create it in your mind as vividly as you can."

Shijo stared at the dirt. He pictured a steel sword, lying in the dirt. Suddenly, the dirt levitated into the air, and condensed into the shape of the sword he pictured. The brown color gave way to a faint white glow. What was once a pile of dirt, was now a shiny new katana.

"Woah!" he said. "What... just happened?"

Chardon began to explain that the inhabitants of this world could give form to their memories from when they were alive.

"So that's how everyone got their belongings from the other world!" said Shijo. He picked up the sword performed a few practice swings. As blade traveled through the air, Chardon panicked and pulled the table away from his blade's reach.

"Woah, bro! Watch where you swing that thing!" Chardon said, backing away from him.

"Sorry, habit of mine," said Shijo. "Back then, any time was sword time for me. Wherever I was, whenever I could."

"Whatever man, just do it outside!"

Shijo walked out of the dorm entrance onto the field, with a black sheath in his hand. He began to take a few practice swings. The blade flew through the air with a wooshing sound.

Shijo stopped mid-swoop when he heard a familiar voice in the far off distance. He walked over to the cliff separating the upper and lower field and listened to the voice.

"Guard Skill! Hologram! Guard Skill! Drop Shield! Damnit! Guard Skill! Drop Shield!"

Shijo looked at the silhouette on the lower field. He barely recognized him as the one with the shattered disc from earlier.

The boy sighed. "Guard Skill. Active Camo." And the black figure vanished into the night.

"Woah..." Shijo whispered to himself.


End file.
